


The One With Good Friends

by thestanceyg



Series: April Challenge Redux [8]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Thor (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 10:40:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14259192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestanceyg/pseuds/thestanceyg
Summary: Holiday: Draw a Picture of a BirdRequest: Darcy and Penelope BrOTPMy Prompt: “Hey you called this number at like 3AM and we talked about some pretty heavy shit do you remember any of that?”





	The One With Good Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HKThauer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HKThauer/gifts).



Darcy was staring down her third cup of coffee for the day. Last night had been harder than she had expected. It was the 10 year anniversary of her brother’s death, and while the past four years hadn’t been bad, last night had been a nightmare. Jane had offered to spend the night with her, but she had declined. She had been fine at work, but as soon as her mind was no longer busy, things fell apart in ways she hadn’t been expecting. Though, to be honest, she didn’t remember all of it. She had drank so much last night that she didn’t remember much after the first bottle of wine.

Jane, bless her, didn’t ask questions. Instead she had come in that morning with a special, all the frills coffee, and a box of pastries. She had snagged a croissant for herself and then pulled out a notebook and dropped it next to Darcy’s elbow before sitting at her own laptop. She had never loved Jane more than she did in that moment. Jane understood that Darcy just needed normalcy before she could deal with whatever was going on in her head. This was why they had mutually chosen to stay together; this was why they were so successful when they worked together. 

Darcy grabbed a scone and let the hum of her computer and the tap of keys pull her into a work trance. The growling of her stomach was her first realization that it was lunch time. She had worked for five straight hours without thinking about the previous night. 

“Hey Jane? You ready for lunch?”

Jane’s head popped up from behind a machine. “Food? Absolutely. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until you said food.”

Darcy laughed and grabbed her purse. “Awesome. I’ll be back soon with something.”

“Bring double,” Jane called. “I didn’t have dinner last night.”

“Jane!” Darcy admonished as she swept out the door, contemplating the best food options for extra hungry Jane.

Thirty minutes later she came back to the lab, weighed down with bags of Somali take-out to find Jane having a stare down with someone new.

“Ummm, hi?” Darcy called out,heading over to a cleartable to set the food down. “What’s up?”

“She,” Jane said, shoving a very angry finger in the direction of the newcomer, says she’s here for you.”

Darcy looked at the woman. “Hi?” she asked, not recognizing the woman at all. “Do I know you?”

“Err….yes? Though...maybe not in a way that makes this any less creepy now that I think about it?”

“That isn’t really helping,” Darcy said gently. “So let’s start at the beginning. Who are you?”

The woman pushed her bright magenta glasses up her nose. “I’m Penelope Garcia, though you probably don’t know me by that name.”

“What name would I know you by?”

“Err… Black Queen?”

“Holy shit,” Darcy breathed. “I….I never thought we’d meet in person. I...I’m not the same person I was then.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Penelope said with a shrug. “But after last night, I thought maybe we should.”

“What happened last night?” Jane asked, eyes darting between the two women, though her stance had relaxed.

“I actually don’t know,” Darcy admitted, looking at Penelope. “I was kind of….”

“Inebriated?” Penelope offered.

“Shit faced,” Darcy corrected.

“Yeah, that’s fair, ”Penelope agreed with a tilt of her head. “You sent me a message on one of the really old, mostly defunct chat servers last night. You left me your number, and I called because your message, well, honestly I couldn’t quite make sense of it.”

“I don’t remember any of this at all.”

“I didn’t think you would, which is why I miiiight have done a little bit of digging to find out where you were so I could check on you.”

“Oh my Thor, Penelope. That...that’s a lot for someone that you don’t even really know.”

“It’s repaying a favor,” she said firmly. “It probably meant nothing to you, but back when we first ‘met’ you did this silly thing where you’d  draw terrible pictures of birds to cheer people up, and you made me one when I was really low, and it saved me that night. I was so lost in anger and despair, and that silly picture pulled me out of it. I still have it saved on my phone.”

“I want to see,” Jane said, moving closer to Penelope. “She does that for me too. I want to see her early work.”

The three women crowded together to look at the picture on Penelope’s phone, laughing at how ridiculous the bird was. 

“Wanna stay for lunch? It looks like Darcy got plenty.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Penelope demurred. 

“Nonsense,” Darcy said as she unpacked the bags.

Speaking quietly so Darcy couldn’t hear, Jane turned to Penelope, “Thanks for caring about Darcy enough to show up. Sorry I was accusatory earlier.”

“I get it,” Penelope whispered back. “Us people without a lot of family need to stick together.”

“We’re going to get along just fine,” Jane declared. “Now come get something to eat.”

As they filled their plates, Darcy turned to Penelope. “So, obviously I don’t do those sorts of things anymore, but you said you’re out of it too?”

“Yup. Actually went completely opposite. I work for the FBI now.”

Darcy shared a look with Jane. “While I don’t do that anymore, we also don’t really get along well with government agencies. They always seem to want something from us.”

“I’m here as Penelope and not Agent Garcia.”

“Real talk: how much ass can you get with your credentials?”

“Oh honey, it’s way more fun to let men behave like asses and then whip them out.”

“We’re keeping her,” Jane declared. “Now then, what do you look for in a romantic partner? Because I’ve got ideas…”

Darcy laughed and relaxed into the girl talk. Last night might have been bad, but today was looking much better.


End file.
